"I see," said Lady Dinsmore drily. "I fear, then, that I interrupted."
Count Poltavo leaned toward her persuasively. "There is just one more important question, dear Lady Dinsmore," he said, "and that I should like to ask you."
The little lady elevated her brows at him. "Insatiable youth!" she murmured. "What is your question?"
"It is a very small thing," he replied, "but it has been in my mind for several days. I should like you and Miss Grayson--and Mr. Van Ingen, if he can find the time," he bowed politely to the young American, "to visit my studio."
Doris clapped her hands. "Delightful!" she exclaimed. "And will you do a sketch of auntie with her head cocked a bit to one side, like a pert little robin, and that adorable crooked smile?"
Lady Dinsmore patted her hand with a tolerant smile. "It is you that the count wishes to paint, my dear, not a wizened old woman like me."
"If I might try both of you," the count replied. "Sometimes, with people who are my friends, the result is not so bad. The likeness, if it comes at all, comes quickly."
Lady Dinsmore laughed. "We will come, I promise you! Some afternoon----"
"Morning," he begged. "The light is better."
"Some morning, then," she agreed, "next week."
The curtain rose upon Nedda and Canio, who sang with love and bitterness and rage. Lady Dinsmore yawned behind her fan. At the end of the act she rose.
"Doris, my dear, I am going to follow the example of your father. This air is stifling, and we have a heavy day before us to-morrow. Cord, will you go for our things?"
It was the count who handed the ladies to their places in the unobtrusively elegant electric coupe, while Van Ingen stood doggedly at his elbow, awaiting a last word with Doris. He was bitterly jealous of his rival, who, to the boy's inflamed mind, seemed perversely lingering over his farewells.
There was some colour for his anger. The count had taken the girl's hand, and bending down so low that the two dark heads almost touched, was murmuring in her ear.
"Every moment to-morrow is already gone. And the next day also!"
He looked at her steadfastly for a moment. "I shall see you to-morrow," he reiterated softly. "Moreover, you yourself will send for me. I prophesy!"